From society to the individual, and back to society: socialization and individuation in G. H. Mead

Abstract

This essay has as its central theme the processes of socialization and individuation in George Herbert Mead. It is a theoretical and hermeneutic text, with propaedeutic purposes, linked to the field of philosophy of education. The objective is to discuss how Mead, in his writings, understands and describes the processes of formation of social subjects and what are the possible correlations of these processes with the ability to live in community, under the aegis of ethics and democracy. In the text, it is argued that the process of forming the self refers to individuating socialization, and that the emergence of the self is only possible through interaction and the effective participation in the life of the community. Therefore, it is possible to consider that the inability to think and act from a social perspective represents a formation’s deficit, which is liability the individual himself and also of the society.